1.7 Guardsmen Part 9

“So what do you want to talk about then?” asks Iris warily.

“Let’s start with something safe and unimportant,” replies Gears, “Such what does your family think you becoming a superhero? Since you don’t have a secret identity or anything.”

“Well, my mum and older brother both have powers, less suited to combat and more to the respective careers,” says Iris, “My family approves of my choice to become a superhero and use my powers to help people. Oh and my sister Marcelle has also manifested powers. She is a singer with a siren voice, solid illusion and shapeshifting plus teleportation and flight. But is an Abnormal. A stunningly beautiful Abnormal, but still an Abnormal. She has just realised her first single since her manifestation. She is a newbie solo singer.”

Iris seems quite proud of her family.

And notice how she went into greater detail about her sister Marcelle. Alexis must be closer to her than the others.

“Is your sister older or younger?” asks Gears.

Wait. Doesn’t Gears know that Alexis’ only younger sibling is Joan, his girlfriend?

Perhaps he wishes to keep how much he knows about her family secret. Or maybe he is trying to steer the conversation towards Joan without directly bringing her up.

That makes sense.

“Older,” says Iris, “Marcelle is a couple of years older than me. My only younger sister is-”

Iris stops mid-sentence and her face pales as she looks horrified at a revelation.

“I’m a horrible person!” wails Iris suddenly, catching the other three completely off-guard.

What on Earth is she going on about?

Perhaps she just remembered about Joan and how she abandoned her?

Gears is the first to recover, not surprising consider his power.

“What do you mean?” asks Gears.

“My sister J-Joan,” sniffs Iris as tears go down her cheeks, “S-she is hospitalised and I-I completely forgot about her. W-we haven’t, I haven’t spoken to her in m-months! How could I f-forget my own s-sister? Especially one that has s-suffered so much.”

Well, this in intriguing reaction.

What should we do?

Offer to help. It is would we would do anyway and if Iris accepts, it will give us and Gears the perfect opportunity for us to actively help Joan without revealing Gears’ secret identity. He has been waiting for a chance like this ever since he got his powers.

“Is that anything we can do to help?” offers Guardian, causing both Gears and Ebony to look at her.

“I don’t know,” says Iris as she wipes her tears away.

“Well, I come look into it and see what I can come up with,” says Gears soothingly, “What exactly is her medical condition anyway?”

Okay, I know for certain Leo knows that. He spent two hours with Joan earlier before meeting me out here. And that isn’t counting how much time they spent together in the past.

While we know he knows that, the others can’t be allowed to know that Gears also knows that. After all, Leo is a separate person to Gears as far as anyone else is concerned.

True. I do wish he informed me of this beforehand.

He probably did and you just didn’t pay attention as you didn’t find out what you were agreeing to before doing so.

Yeah...

“I don’t know,” says Iris, looking both upset and embarrassed, “We haven’t spoken in months and I have just been ignoring Joan for at least a year now.”

“I’m sure she won’t to upset with you,” says Ebony hesitantly in attempt to reassure Iris, but seems unsure of her words.

“I would recommend apologising to her,” suggests Guardian, “I’m sure she would be receptive if you attempt to reforge ties with her. As long as you don’t abandon her again, I’m sure things will be fine.”

“You think?” says Iris.

“I’m certain of it,” says Guardian with the utmost confidence.

To get Iris to do that is the very reason Gears and I are here having this conversation so I’m sure Joan will be fine with it.

That said, we haven’t actually met Joan.

I trust Leo’s judgement of her.

Aye, I also have faith in Leo.

“I ought to get going,” says Gears, “I have stuff to be doing.”

“Uh, okay,” says Iris, “I’m not sure what to do now.”

“What were you doing before?” inquires Guardian as Gears flies off.

“We’re patrolling,” answers Ebony, “We’re hoping to find more Syndicate forces.”

“Syndicate forces?” asks Guardian.

“You know about the Syndicate right?” says Ebony and Guardian shakes her head, “Well, they work for Darkness. Darkness is the second most powerful known parahuman after Superior and is attempting to establish the first parahuman controlled organised crime syndicate.”

“In that regard, Darkness has been mostly successful given how strong this powers are,” says Iris, “We have had a major success recently. I personally took down the local branch of the Syndicate. It has been in the news.”

“I don’t pay much attention to the news,” replies Guardian.

“Well, it was tough fight,” says Iris, “Their leader was a B+ terrakinetic, but I took him down after a bit of a scuffle. It was my first supervillain fight and I got some really good publicity out of it. A massive interview and everything. It even looks like I’m getting my own toy line.”

“Sounds interesting,” says Guardian, “So are you going to do now?”

“I want to visit my sister,” answers Iris, “But I still have my patrol…”

“I’ll continue with our patrol while you go and visit your sister,” suggests Ebony, “I’ll call HQ and tell them.”

“I’ll go with you Iris,” offers Guardian.

“Thank you,” says Iris as she pulls both Ebony and Guardian into a hug.